The driving record of Marco Rubio and his wife were recently made public, and they have numerous violations between them. Does a presidential candidate need a good driving record?

79% of writers and pundits say no see all 14 opinions below

What do you think?Does Marco Rubio's Driving Record Matter?

Writers and pundits who say or about the topic, "Does Marco Rubio's Driving Record Matter?"

last 24 hours | reasonWhat Marco Rubio's Driving Record Tells Us About Social Conservatism - Reason (blog)"...Roping in his wife's driving record helped inflate the numbers to make the insignificant story seem at least marginally worth reporting. But it also invited easy parody by conservatives, who noted that, taken together, Rubio and Pontius Pilate were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and that, between them, Rubio and Colombia are responsible for most of the world's cocaine production.Funny stuff but it drives home a point many conservatives would, in different circumstances, prefer to dispute...." see full article

1005 days ago | richmondMarco Rubio: Marked man - Richmond.com"...Marco Rubio's once-promising political career lies in ruins, after a leading Northeastern media outlet disclosed the Florida senator's multiple illegal activities and his shocking financial failures. In less than two decades, Rubio who is a Republican presidential candidate, by the way, at least the last time we checked accumulated four traffic tickets and was sentenced to attend driving school on at least one occasion. His wife's record is even more disgraceful 13 driving-related tickets, a rate of approximately one every 18 months.Only days after The New York Times, a daily newspaper based in Manhattan, exposed Ticketgate, it followed with an in-depth investigation of the Rubios' finances. Rubio, whose father immigrated to the United States from Cuba and worked for many years as a bartender to support his family, was discovered to have used student loans to finance part of his education. While the future senator did manage to pay those loans back, it also was revealed that he recently lost money on the sale of a second home he had purchased in the state capital while serving in the Florida Legislature. Rubio and another legislator bought the house before the meltdown in the U.S. housing market, which he was apparently too stupid to anticipate...." see full article

1008 days ago | theweekMarco Rubio's problem isn't gotcha stories - The Week Magazine"...First was a silly report in The New York Times about his traffic violations. He had earned four in nearly two decades of driving around Florida. Politicians tend to be late and in a hurry, so Rubio probably rates better than average on this score. And the fact that the same report didn't uncover any uncouth workarounds that were made available to him because of his political life actually speaks well of him. His supporters tweeted jokingly about Rubio going on rampages of trivial offenses, with the hashtag #RubioCrimeSpree.The second story, about his personal finances, is a bit more complicated. Rubio has made a campaign virtue of the fact that debt including college debt has occasionally crimped his family budget. He admitted forthrightly in his biography that he was a sloppy accountant. The Timesreported on his missteps but dropped in some facts that would make you question Rubio's judgment. He was unusually bad at saving from his income. He even liquidated a retirement account, presumably at huge expense, to cover expenses. He also, after receiving a huge contract for his book, bought an $80,000 boat...." see full article

1010 days ago | latimesIs the GOP heartland ready to embrace Marco Rubio? - Los Angeles Times"...Recent media scrutiny about Rubio's personal debt and his family's many traffic tickets may only be helping him among ordinary Americans. At the speech, one Iowan jokingly offered driving lessons. The campaign has taken it all lightly, starting the satirical Twitter hashtag, #RubioCrimeSpree.They attribute nearly $100,000 in online donations over the last few days to people sending money in response as a gesture of support.At some point, Rubio will need to sit down at the kitchen table and display the skills and resources necessary to tell voters his vision for the nation, much like he did when he was a long-shot Senate candidate going door-to-door five years ago in Florida...." see full article

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1011 days ago | commdiginewsMarco Rubio goes full Woodrow Wilson - Communities Digital News"...This week's Marco Rubio scandal is that the junior senator from Florida and his wife are not good drivers. That bombshell hit the New York Times on Friday, riveting media attention for much of the evening.If anything, their need for speed provides the best argument for electing Rubio president: It will keep the Rubios off the road for four to eight years and protect American motorists, since the Secret Service will do all their driving for them.Unfortunately, the public good done by electing Rubio president would be undone by his foreign policy approach. On Thursday, Rubio appeared on Fox News's Outnumbered, where he gave he thoughts on nation-building...." see full article

"...Thanks to the new technology and multiple forms of communication, the liberal stranglehold on presenting the news its way has been somewhat breached. And the liberals are confused. So it is time to seize the opportunity and make them crazier, but more importantly, to get our narrative out, our way. The reaction to the sacred New York Times' Shocking Revelations that Mr. and Mrs. Marco and Jeanette Rubio (retro identification, I know) accumulated 17 minor traffic violation tickets in the past 18 years is an example of what can be accomplished. After the article was published, the citizenry did not automatically rise up and declare Rubio's candidacy dead. Instead, many conservative media outlets laughed at the story, calmly pointing out worse unmentioned similar behavior from now President Barack Obama (D), which he finally paid...17 years later, after a local paper not the NY Times dug up the scandal...um, news. ..." see full article

"...The Times also considers Mrs. Rubio's driving record, and finds that she has a number of citations and was involved in a fender-bender so minor that no police report was filed.In the annals of bad political driving, the Rubios do not even merit a footnote. The standard case study was Senator Edward Kennedy, but one of the examples that stands out in my mind is that of George Stephanopoulos who, when he was running the Clinton White House, managed to get himself arrested for leaving the scene of an accident and driving with an expired license after failing to negotiate a parking space in front of a bar in Georgetown. He popped a bunch of mints; there was no drunk-driving charge. I remember the episode because of one detail: Stephanopoulos was driving an old Honda CRX, which I found disappointing at the time I'd assumed that senior White House advisers drove better cars...." see full article

"...Undoubtedly as important to them as the never-ending Clinton Foundation payoff scandals and record destruction or the administration stonewalling on the IRS targeting of administration critics and political opponents, the paper assigned three people -- Alan Rappeport, Steve Eder, and Kitty Bennett -- to report on Marco Rubio and his wife's traffic infractions since 1993. (He had all of 4, his wife had more.) Worse than giving space to such nonsense it turns out that they got the story from Clinton opposition researchers and then, when caught out megaphoning them, pretended they'd dug this up themselves. ..." see full article

1015 days ago | rejoicemagazineNY Times Goes After Rubio, Wife — FOR TRAFFIC TICKETS - Rejoice Magazine"...In an expansive piece, nearly 800 words, the once-lofty paper details Marco's and Jeanette's traffic history, dating back to 1997. In 18 years, the pair has gotten 17 tickets "for incidents that included speeding, driving through red lights and careless driving."But hold onto your hats, people: The GOP candidate got four. His wife got the other 13. Explosive!Working their incredible sources (strike that, two reporters just did "a search of the Miami-Dade and Duval County court dockets"), the paper detailed each of the infractions, and even linked to them so discerning politicos could see for themselves. ..." see full article

1016 days ago | ijreviewNY Times Reported on Rubio's 17 Traffic Tickets. Now, If You Want to Look at ... - IJ Review"...Rubio and his wife may have received 17 traffic violations over the course of eighteen years, but their violations were paid in a timely manner. On the other hand, while Obama may have paid for his parking tickets eventually, it still took him seventeen years to do it.Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991, mostly for parking in a bus stop, parking without a resident permit and failing to pay the meter, records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show...." see full article

"...No matter how the New York Times heard about the Rubio driving story, it's clear from the Free Beacon piece that the candidate's citations have been a matter of curiosity for a couple of weeks among organizations looking to slow him down. Which is all fine and healthy: The Erik Wemple Blog doesn't care one whit whether the New York Times got the story from American Bridge, American Aqueduct or American Culvert. All that matters is whether the piece is newsworthy.Here, the newspaper clears that bar, like an exhausted hurdler. As Twitter has noted in many clever ways, four traffic citations in 18 years don't add up to much, though the fact that Rubio's driver's license was facing suspension in 2011 is noteworthy. Asked about thresholds for this strain of accountability reporting, Ryan responded via e-mail: The vote for president is the most personal vote that Americans cast, argued Ryan. Voters want to know about these candidates not just as policy-makers, but as people. It is not at all unusual or unexpected for us to scrutinize candidates' backgrounds and their lives through public records. It is very standard scrubbing. ..." see full article

1016 days ago | legalinsurrectionNYT's 'scoop' on Sen. Rubio's driving record ... - Legal Insurrection"...Hilarious journalistic undertaking makes its way around the internet, is subjected to wholly justified mockery, and then the intrepid staff at the Washington Free Beacon began poking around. We often jest that the NYT functions as a progressive mouthpiece because of their consistently liberal bent. In this case, it's entirely true. Early Friday afternoon, Brent Scher of the Washington Free Beacon published an article revealing who requested Rubio's driving records...." see full article

1016 days ago | mediaiteFox's Greta Slams NY Times for Article on Rubio's Traffic Citations - Mediaite"...Van Susteren conceded that it was fair to examine a presidential candidate's driving record, but took issue with the article's presentation. She noted that the article, written by three people, was covered in a way that jacked [its] number up order to increase it's own newsworthiness. She pointed to the headline, saying that it pinned all 17 citations on Mr. Rubio, when he only had 4 to his wife's 13. Why are Mrs. Rubio's driving infractions pinned on him? He wasn't driving those 13 times, she was! The headline is written to pin her driving record on him. Headlines matter that is what most people read and then stop. Collapsing the two driving records in that one headline smears the candidate. She is the one with the driving problem ..." see full article

1017 days ago | patchMarco Rubio, Wife Have a Need for Speed, Records Show - Patch.com"...The couple has collectively agreed to attend driving school on four separation occasions, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Marco Rubio's troubles behind the wheel began before his political career launched. It seems he was cited for careless driving back in 1997. He's also been cited for speeding, running a red light and failing to stop at a sign, the Times noted. Jeannette Rubio's citations include a number of speeding claims and she's faced license suspension on three separate occasions.All told, the couple has paid out more than $1,000 in fines since 1997, Time.com reported.News of the Rubios' driving escapades broke Friday, just one day after fellow Floridian and Republican Jeb Bush announced that he had a big announcement coming for the public on June 15. Speculation is that will be the day when the former Florida governor will officially announce his candidacy for the White House. Rubio announced weeks ago...." see full article

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